Giant Panda Gives Birth at National Zoo

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The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has some
exciting news: Its female giant panda, Mei Xiang, has given birth
to a cub.

Zookepers have not been able to get up close to the newborn, but
based on Mei Xiang's behavior and the sounds observed in webcam
footage, they believe the baby was born at about 10:46 p.m. ET on
Sunday (Sept. 16).

"She is cradling her cub closely, and she looks so tired, but
every time she tries to lay down, the cub squawks and she sits
right up and cradles the cub more closely," the zoo's chief
veterinarian Suzan Murray said in a statement. "She is the poster
child for a perfect panda mom."

The zookeepers are staying at a safe distance from the mom and
baby, because they want Mei Xiang to raise her cub naturally. It
could be a few weeks before the 14-year-old female leaves her
baby alone long enough for the zoo's veterinary team to give the
furball a brief checkup and determine its sex. The cub's birth
comes seven years after Tai Shan, the zoo's only prior cub, was
born to Mei Xiang in 2005. He was moved to China in 2010.
[ Fun
Facts About Giant Pandas ]

It's difficult to breed pandas in captivity. Females are fertile
just one or two days a year, and attempts to coax a panda pair to
mate naturally during that short window often fail. Moreover,
it's tough to know the success of artificial insemination until a
cub appears. Female pandas almost always undergo a
false pregnancy after they ovulate, but don't conceive; the
pseudo pregnancy mimics the real thing, as the pandas sleep a
lot, make bamboo nests and show a spike in hormone levels.

Mei Xiang had been
artificially inseminated on April 29 and 30 with sperm from
the zoo's adult male, Tian Tian. The panda parents are on loan to
the United States from China until 2015. As only
1,600 giant pandas are left in the wild, captive breeding is
an important way for scientists to study and conserve the
endangered species.

Across the country, the San Diego Zoo
also welcomed a new panda cub this year. The baby boy was the
sixth cub born to the zoo's female Bai Yun and zookeepers have
reported that he is healthy and just started opening his eyes.